The Legacy of a Rose
by PrincessDaydream77
Summary: What if the baby that Sarah Jane had found on her doorstep wasn't called Sky? What if she was a quarter Time Lord? And what if her name was Louise Tyler-Smith?
1. Surprise!

The Legacy of a Rose

Summary : What if the baby that Sarah Jane had found on her doorstep wasn't called Sky? What if she was a quarter Time Lord? And what if her name was Louise Tyler-Smith?

Disclaimer : All characters belong to the BBC. Louise Tyler-Smith and the plot-line belongs to me.

Chapter One

Sarah Jane Smith was woken in the middle of the night by a loud _whoosh_ and a weak cry, like that of a baby. Pulling on her old pink dressing gown, she began to make her way downstairs, towards the door.

As she opened it, she saw that there was no one there, just a large baby carrier. Opening the sun visor, Sarah Jane was shocked to see that there was a baby girl in there! She was clutching a small note in her right hand and a small disc shaped item in her left.

Without even thinking about it, Sarah Jane picked her up and carried her inside, along with the baby carrier and the items that the girl was carrying.

'Well' she thought 'This is the last thing you expect when you wake up in the morning!'

And with that she shut the door, unaware that there was someone in the bushes watching her.

The next morning, Sarah Jane woke up on the sofa in her living room. She had a few blissful seconds of ignorance, before remembering why she was down there in the first place.

Climbing the stairs, she opened her bedroom door and peered at the bed in stunned disbelief. Lying on her bed was not a baby, but an eleven-year-old girl. The only way Sarah Jane could tell that she was even the same person was her chestnut brown eyes glittering in the early sunlight. Eyes that Sarah Jane had seen twice before.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Louise Tyler-Smith. My mum needs you, and so do I."

A/N : Sorry about the short chapter it was only really a starter to tell you what was going on.


	2. Love Letter

Chapter Two

Sarah Jane was standing in her doorway, with her mouth open and her hands on the dorrframe to steady herself.

"So...your mother is-"

"Rose Tyler-Smith, yes."

"Tyler-Smith? Who's your father?"

"John Smith. He's half-Time Lord."

"The duplicate Doctor."

"Yes, but he doesn't talk about that much."

"So you're a quarter Time Lord, then?"

"Yes. I can't regenerate, but I can heal myself if I'm hurt."

"How old are you, as a matter of interest?"

"I am eleven, my mum disguised me as a baby so that I could not be thought of as Louise Tyler-Smith, in case there were people around with a grudge against the Doctor. The letter explains a bit better than I do."

Sarah Jane pulled the letter out of her dressing gown pocket and began to read it.

_Dear Sarah Jane,_

_I want you to know that I am doing this because I have no other choice. The Cybermen have returned and I don't want Louise to be near them. Myself, John and the rest of the Torchwood team are working hard to bring them down, but it may not work. If...if anything happens to John and I, I want you to look after Louise for us. If you need to speak to me in an emergency, and only in an emergency mind you, then take the disc and give it to Mr Smith. He will connect it directly to me. Thank you._

_Give my love to Louise,_

_Rose._

"Well, it looks like you're stuck with me then, Louise."

"What did Mum say?"

"She's doing some very important stuff for Torchwood, with your dad. She'll send for you when she's finished, but until then, you're staying with me."

"I feel like I'm in a different Universe to my parents."

"Well, funnily enough-"

"I am, I know. I just want my mum!"

She broke down sobbing in Sarah Jane's arms, while the woman who she would be living with for the forseeable future comforted and soothed her. After Louise had calmed down, she just sat in Sarah Jane's arms and slowly drifted off into sleep, dreaming of her mother coming to get her, unaware that, with her lack of experience, this was Sarah Jane's dream as well.


	3. Sparky

Chapter Three

Luke, Rani and Clyde were gathered around Sarah Jane, staring at the girl cowering behind her.

"So. Who's the kid?" asked Clyde.

"Clyde!" ranted Rani. "You can't say that, 'the kid' has a name, you know?"

"No! I don't know, because no-one has actually told me!"

"Shut up, Clyde! Hi, sweetie, what's your name?" asked Rani, tentatively approaching the girl, who slowly emerged from her hiding place.

"Louise. Louise Tyler-Smith. Who are you?"

"Oh, Louise, this is Clyde, Rani and my son, Luke." explained Sarah Jane, pointing towards each person in turn.

"Right, first things first, Louise here needs a nickname. What about Louie?"

"Not a chance."

"Alright. Loulou?"

"No."

"LTS?"

"Are you insane?"

"Alright. Calm it, Sparky. That's it, Sparky."

"What d'you think, Lou?"

"I like it. Sparky."

"Suits you. Now let's go and do what we do best." butted in Sarah Jane.

"What?" asked 'Sparky'.

"Save the world."


	4. Your Mother's Daughter

Chapter Four

Saving the world was an interesting hobby for a curious eleven-year-old girl to have and true to her parentage, Louise could rivel Luke at solving the puzzles. Together, they made a formidable team and with the others, they were practically unbeatable. They had already warded off three robots, two Slitheen and a Sontaran and Louise had been there for less than a week. Now she realised how hard her parents worked to save the world.

"Now I know how Mum feels." sighed 'Sparky', as she sat down on the brown leather settee situated in the attic, cradling the creamy mug of steaming chocolate.

"Yeah, me too." laughed Sarah Jane, who was doing the same.

"Sarah Jane?"

"Yes?"

"My mum never...talks about 'the Golden Days'. She says it's too painful to remember. When did you meet her?"

"Right. Okay. I met your mum in a school, when we were investigating some strange goings on. It turned out that the school was being taken over by giant bats!"

"Seriously?"

"Oh, yeah. Krillitanes. Aliens who cherry-picked the best parts of each race they conquered, to make them stronger."

"What happened?"

"Well, we blew up some vats of Krillitane oil, which was toxic to them and, well...they were destroyed and The Doctor left."

"Did he leave Mum?"

"No! She went with him."

"She said she lost The Doctor to this world, what did she mean?"

"This is actually...really difficult to explain. You and I, we come from different worlds. You live in a parallel world to the one I live in."

"I know. Dad told me. So, 'cause I always wondered really, is this the real world, then?"

"No! No, they're both real, you're still real, it's just…different."

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Sarah Jane extended her arms to the girl, who pulled her legs up onto the sofa, not flinching at all when Sarah Jane's arms closed around her neck, rubbing her back soothingly.

"Saving the world, being the brains, you really are your mother's daughter!"


	5. Emergency Contact

Chapter Five

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers, MissSarahG1, Shannon the chameleon and sjamerlinfan. You give me hope for this story.

"RUN!" screamed Luke, flicking his head over his shoulder every few seconds to check on the position of the advancing Slitheen. Clyde, Rani and Sarah Jane were sprinting along with him, with Louise panting a few feet behind the rest. Suddenly, the green lumbering monster reached up tearing into the wiring system in the school roof, causing an electric shower of sparks to begin raining down, impairing Louise's vision and causing her to trip over a fallen wire, sending her tumbling to the floor, the Slitheen a mere few metres behind.

An echoing scream came from the blinding light and all four of them suddenly stopped in their tracks and turned, a look of horror being mirrored across each of their faces. Catching sight of the quickly moving alien, the elder woman reached into her pocket and pulled out her sonic lipstick, aiming it at the creature's head, causing it to clasp its hands over it's ears in agony, allowing Luke the time to dive over to Louise and pull his 'little sister' to her feet, giving Sarah Jane the signal to run once more.

They kept running until they reached 13 Bannerman Road, where all five of them lent back against the wall, their gasps for breath being interrupted briefly by sudden fits of laughter.

"Wow!" gasped Louise, "I honestly have no idea why Mum and Dad wanted to keep me away from all this. It's amazing!"

"Yes, Louise, but there is one thing you have to remember about all of this. Yes, it's beautiful and wonderful and just so amazing, but it's dangerous. Very dangerous. I shouldn't even be letting you do this, you're only a child."

"But so was Luke. He was only a child when he started helping you. What's the difference between us?"

"I have responsibility for Luke, Louise, because he's my son. You aren't, you're the daughter of two of my best friends."

"Clyde isn't your son and Rani isn't your daughter. Neither was Maria. What's the difference?"

Sarah Jane fell silent and the four children high-fived each other, while Luke picked up Louise and put her on his shoulders.

"You've managed to silence the great Sarah Jane Smith. Not a bad days work, Sparky!" exclaimed Clyde. Even the woman herself was laughing as they entered the large house.

Their laughter died down when they reached the attic, the noise of a claxon and the pulsating crimson glow coming from Mr. Smith's screen filling the small room.

"Mr. Smith! Mr. Smith, what's happening?!" yelled Sarah Jane, fighting to be heard over the noise.

"Incoming emergency message, Sarah Jane." called Mr. Smith in his monotone voice.

"Play!" yelled Sarah Jane, causing the noise to die down a little as a familiar face filled the screen, the terror on her face very pronounced.

"Mum!" cried Louise, recognising the face immediately as Luke wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Sarah Jane!" cried Rose from the screen. "Sarah Jane, I really need your help! They've taken over half of the building and we're outnumbered two hundred to one! I need you to promise to look after Lou for me, I really do, for as long as it takes. I don't know how long we're going to last here, the Cybermen are everywhere, they've cut off all our exit routes! There's no way out for us, so if the worst happens, I'm trusting that you'll keep her safe. Lou, if you're watching this, I love you so much, sweetie, I hope that I'll see you again soon and- Aargh!" she screamed, ducking from the screen as a Cyberman shot towards her, cutting off their access to the other universe.

"Mum! Mum!" screamed Louise in anguish, burying her head into Rani's jacket, while Sarah Jane's face had fallen to the floor.

"Mr. Smith?" she whispered. "Was the image live or a recording?"

"I regret to inform that it was live, Sarah Jane." came the reply, even Mr. Smith's monotone beginning to sadden a little. At this response, Louise began to howl louder, while Sarah Jane just gazed at the dead black screen.

A/N: Sorry it took so long, but I've had so much demand on my other stories that I hadn't had time to update this one.


	6. Thinking of Them

Chapter Six

A/N: Thanks to my great reviewer, pettypup101. You'll just have to wait and see. Also, to IntoTheVortex, my other ace reviewer.

Sarah Jane could still hardly breathe. It had been a good five hours since the screen had gone dead in the attic and yet she could still hear Rose's scream as the Cyberman converged on her. She couldn't help but feel a great deal of empathy, not only for Rose herself, but for her daughter.

Louise had reluctantly got off to sleep approximately an hour before, tears still rolling down her cheeks as she tossed and turned in Luke's arms. Rani and Clyde had gone home as well, while Mr. Smith reminded Sarah Jane too much of what had happened. So, the woman was sitting almost alone in her sitting room, petting the metallic head of the only friend she could talk to at that point.

"Oh, K-9, what am I going to do? I promised Rose that I would look after Lou until she and John could come back, but what if she doesn't? I've raised Luke for a while now, but he was always independant. Lou needs me, she has no one else if Rose is gone. I'm not cut out to be a mother again. Oh, what am I going to do?" she cried, staring out of the window towards the stars.

"Mistress, the only option seems clear to me. You must keep your promise and look after Young Mistress until Mistress Rose and Master return." spoke K-9, his monotone voice laced with a touch of emotion and comfort for his mistress.

"But what if they don't, K-9? I don't know if I can do this again. Luke wasn't that young when I got him, but she's so young. Not to mention that she's the child of two of my best friends."

"There is a 35% chance that Master and Mistress Rose will survive the attack of the Cybermen. If they can escape the Cybermen, there is a 50% chance that they will be able to cross the Void. Altogether, the chance of their return is 17.5%."

"So not very likely, then." sighed Sarah-Jane.

"Negative, Mistress."

"Alright. Thank you, K-9." sighed Sarah Jane, a single tear streaking another sparkling line down her pale face. K-9's head tilted to the side slightly, his metallic features changing slightly, so as to look almost sympathetic. '_I'm probably just imagining that because it's what I want to see_' thought Sarah-Jane.

Sighing reluctantly, the woman rose from her settee, stepping slowly through the door and leaving K-9 in her wake. She faltered slightly when she reached the door of Luke's bedroom, but pushed the door open nonetheless, brushing a single tear away from her cheek as she walked. However, the sight that she saw, although she wasn't sure how unexspected it was. Yes, Luke was lying sound asleep in his bed, but it was just Luke.

Surprisingly, the spare bedroom temporarily Louise's was not the first place that the woman checked to find the girl. Instead, she headed straight to the attic. And sure enough, she was right to.

There, standing at the stargazing window with her eyes fixed on the crescent moon, was Louise. The bright white rays excentuated the redness of her eyes and the shimmering teartracks glistening on her cheeks. Sarah-Jane emerged a little more from the shadows, taking a few more steps towards the girl, who started a little at the sight of the shadow appearing on the wall.

"Lou, it's only me." Sarah-Jane said simply, stepping completely out of the shadows so that Louise could see that the figure was not to be feared.

"I know." she replied sadly, not averting her eyes from the window. Sarah-Jane took little notice of this and stepped further forward until she reached the eleven-year-old's side, where she wrapped an arm around the young girl's shoulders. Louise stiffened for a moment at the touch, but relaxed into Sarah-Jane's simple embrace soon after.

"Are you alright?" the elder asked.

"I don't know. Not really." Louise replied vaguely, her head subconciously coming to rest on the woman's shoulder. It was then that Sarah-Jane opened her mouth to inform the small blonde of what K-9 had informed her of, but quickly close it again. But how could she tell a girl, already so saddened, that her mother and father were so unlikely to return that the possibility was barely worth thinking about. She opened her mouth once more, but the words that came out were not the ones that she had considered.

"Louise, I'm sure that they're alright. I've known your mother for a long time, though I've known the original Doctor for much longer, and through all the scrapes they've ever been in, they've always come through almost unscathed. They'll do it this time as well. Let's just wait and see."

"Do you think they're still alive? Do you think they're thinking of me?" Louise asked nervously, her eyes still unmoving from the twinkle of lights in the sky.

"Of course they're thinking of you, Lou. Why wouldn't they be? I bet that they're standing there together now, looking up at the stars and thinking of you, knowing you're probably doing the same. Because, you know, if you look up at the stars and think of someone when you're missing them-"

"The chances are that they're doing the same and thinking of you. Mum told me that. She said that, when she was waiting for The Doctor, she did that all the time and it worked. He came back. Sarah-Jane?"

"Yes?" the woman asked, her arm tightening slightly around the girl.

"Do you think that, if I do this, Mum and Dad will come back? Like he did." These words took Sarah-Jane by surprise, though she wasn't quite sure why. If it'd been her in Louise's situation, she would've surely asked precisely the same question herself. But she found giving an answer very difficult. So she referred to what she would've wanted to hear.

"Of course they will, Lou. Just you wait and see." Sarah-Jane stated confidently, staring up towards the stars, hoping beyond hope that it was true. For her sake as well as Lou's.

A/N: Thanks for being patient with me. As always, please review!


	7. School and Sadness

Chapter Seven

A/N: Thanks to my great reviewers, Safi-ry, warriour and lil Miss Mysterious.

For the first time since she had arrived at Bannerman Road, Louise had fallen asleep in her own bed and had awoken in the same place. She did not really know why she had never done so before in the three weeks she had been there, but for some reason she had always awoken in the attic.

Pulling on a dressing gown over her pyjamas, Louise began to make her way down the stairs, breakfast the only thing on her newly woken mind.

But breakfast strayed a little further back in her thoughts as she heard a strange sound, like that of a wheezing engine, struggling to retain life. It was gone just as soon as it had begun, and the blonde could not help wondering whether she had merely imagined it.

She gazed out of the window absentmindedly, questioning her own mind and memory. Truly, she hadn't been sleeping too greatly, but she was almost certain that even the sleep deprived did not hear strange engines in their heads.

"Come on, Lou. Breakfast!" Sarah Jane yelled from the kitchen, her voice carrying easily up the stairs to the girl, who snapped out of her daydream and walked slowly down the stairs, her head still turned towards the bay window, meaning she subsequently tripped down the last three steps, creating a huge racket.

"Louise, what are you doing?" Sarah Jane asked, emerging from the kitchen with a polka dot apron tied around her waist.

"Nothing. I just tripped." Louise summarised, not accidentally leaving out the part containing the noise. She doubted Sarah Jane would think her mad, but even so.

"Alright. Well, be more careful next time. And hurry up! Breakfast's ready." Sarah Jane chastised, though she had an affectionate smile on her face as she did so. Louise smiled at the woman in return, running into the kitchen to fetch herself a piece of toast.

"Now, Lou, I want you to behave yourself at school. I know that it isn't your own school, but it will do for now, and you need an education." Sarah Jane said, in a tone both Luke and Louise knew signaled the beginning of a lecture. However before

"But I have an education. I already know most of the things I need to know." the blonde girl whined, a pout that the woman could instantly relate with her mother surfacing on her features.

"Alright, then. What is (375x5647) – (578x738)?" Sarah Jane asked the girl, raising her eyebrows so high that they seemed to be close to disappearing .

"1,691,061." replied Louise, with almost no hesitation at all. Sarah Jane gaped at her, and then turned to her son.

"Luke?"

"She's right." he replied, not looking up from the screen on which he was texting Clyde the words: '_Sparky's a genious!_'.

"Well… Lou, no arguments! You are going to school and that is final! Besides, you never know, it might be fun."

"Yeah, that's likely(!)" the girl complained retreating up the stairs to put on her school uniform. Preparing for the hellish day ahead.

Surprisingly, the day did not go as badly as Louise had expected it to do. The lessons had been mediocre, not as terrible as she had thought they'd be, and most of the children in her class just left her well alone. She had not made friends at the place, as Sarah Jane had instructed her to try and do, but in truth, she had not expected for that to happen. She was just too strange. Fitting in did not come naturally to her.

Still, as she made back to Bannerman Road, chatting away happily with Luke, Clyde and Rani, Louise found herself thinking that her first day at school had been tolerable, in the very least. The thought was short lived, however, as her day turned from tolerable to brilliant.

As fast as she had finished talking, Louise sprinted away from the group, bolting towards the Smith's house almost as fast as a bolt of lightning.

"Lou! Lou, come back!" Rani hollered after her, sharing her confused tone with the two whispering boys beside her. None of the trio knew why the youngest of them was hurtling towards the strange man standing on the doorstep of the house, catching his attention as he turned towards her, his long brown coat swishing around him.

As if on cue, the door opened, revealing Sarah Jane Smith, who immediately emerged from behind it as she took in the scene unfolding before her eyes.

"DAD!" Louise screamed, leaping into the unsuspecting man's arms, almost knocking him over with the sheer force of her embrace. "Dad! Dad, it's me! It's Lou!"

Still the man was oblivious.

"Dad?" questioned the girl, evident confusion in her eyes as they began to fill with tears. Still, he said nothing at all.

It near broke Sarah Jane's heart to see her adoptive 'daughter' this way, to see her so desperate and confused, and after a few moments, she could take it no longer.

"Louise, can you come inside please?" Sarah Jane asked her tentatively, which caused her to spin around to face the woman, fury blazing in her eyes.

"He's my dad. You're not taking me away from my dad." Louise spoke, her voice a harsh whisper through her gritted teeth.

"Louise." she said again, a little more forcefully this time.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Louise suddenly asked her, the fury in her eyes now replaced with pure vulnerability, the first time Sarah Jane had seen such a thing from her.

Unable to answer adequately enough for her own liking, let alone Lou's, the elder woman stepped forward, out of the doorway and right in front of the man. To Louise's confusion, he seemed to recognise Sarah Jane more than he recognised her, his own daughter.

When Sarah Jane did speak, it was only two words. Two words that brought Louise's hopes crashing down once more.

"Hello, Doctor."

A/N: I worked really hard on this one, please review!


	8. Nightmares Come True

Chapter Eight

A/N: Thanks to Safi Ry and lil Miss Mysterious for reviewing.

The group remained in silence for a long while after the words were spoken, glancing to one another on occasion. However, as everyone was deliberately avoiding Louise's gaze, no one saw the tears falling from her eyes.

"Then who are you?" she finally asked, cutting through the atmosphere like a knife could have done. Seeing no other option, the Doctor answered.

"My name is the Doctor." he told her, but with none of the usual bounce of his tone. He sounded almost sombre to Sarah Jane, who was unaccustomed to him being so. It was evident that he felt the young girl's pain.

"So, you're not my dad, then." It was not a question, the finality of her flat tone showing this very clearly. Unsure of how to respond to the girl, the Doctor shared a glance with Sarah Jane, who gave no response to the question in his eyes, only gazing back at him with sympathy. He returned his gaze to the blonde.

"No, I'm not. I'm sorry, but I'm not."

"I know. I just wanted to make sure I still wasn't in this nightmare. Looks like I am." The sadness in the girl's voice was now so visible that even Clyde had torn his eyes from the screen of his mobile and was now concentrating entirely on the bitter conversation taking place in front of him.

"Listen…" But that was the only word that escaped the man's lips, as he stopped immediately. It was painfully obvious to all present what his problem was. Sarah Jane attempted to rectify the situation, but it was a little too late for that.

"Lou? Louise, are you listening to him?"

"Oh, what's the point?! It's not like anyone's going to listen to me, so why should I do the same?!" Without another word, Louise sprinted over to the still open door, slamming it behind her as she entered the house.

With a small sigh, and after several glances shared around the majority of the group, bar Clyde who had returned his attentions to his ongoing game of Angry Birds, Rani split apart from the others and ran into the house, leaving the remainders of the gang stood outside, still reeling from the complicated situation that they had found themselves in the middle of.

Just a few moments later, Rani eased open the door to the attic of the house, thinking at first that it was deserted. That was until she heard a slight sniffle come from the direction of the window, and caught sight of young Louise curled up in a ball beneath it.

"Lou?" she questioned gently, trying to catch the girl's attention without startling her. She would have almost succeeded, had the sole of her shoe not pressed down on the creaking floorboard first, causing the shuddering blonde to jerk her head upwards, narrowly missing a collision with the wall behind her. Rani bent down beside the girl, wincing slightly at the shock she had caused the girl she had now become fond of. "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"

"I don't know, really." the younger responded, her voice just as quiet as a mouse would have been. "I mean… I didn't… I just thought…"

"I know." Rani told her simply, before Louise had a chance to same anything more, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "You just thought it was your dad."

"In a way, he kind of is. My dad's his duplicate, he's part of him, they look exactly the same, he just… he doesn't know me." the girl explained, her brow furrowed and her voice shaking a little as she did so, as if she was trying to restrain herself from crying.

"I can't imagine what it must be like. It's like he's kind of a twin, isn't it? It's a bit strange, that he doesn't know you, and that must have been kind of weird." Rani commented, attempting to remain sensitive, but her curiosity slightly taking over that. "Sorry, that was a bit insensitive."

"It's fine. It's true." Louise told her friend, smiling a little even though she did not feel like doing so. "I did think it was him at first, but as soon as he saw me, I knew that it wasn't. Dad always does this little smile thing when he sees me, every single time since I was tiny, and the real Doctor didn't do that. I knew it wasn't him before he told me. So, it wasn't that bad. I'd just kind of got my hopes up, that's all…"

"And then there were let down." Rani finished once again, nodding her head as she tightened her grip on the girl's shoulders. "Listen, Lou… they'll turn up. They'll be fine. They just need to wait for the right time to get away, and then they'll be here in a flash. Trust me."

"Yeah. I just wish we could go and get them, instead, that we could bring them here, or that I could go home…" Suddenly, Louise stopped in her speech, deeply immersed in the thought that had just entered her mind.

"Lou?" Rani questioned, her face showing just how confused she truly was. "Lou? Are you okay?"

The girl did not stay around long enough to answer the question, as she had jumped to her feet and run out of the attic door before the teenager had even finished it.

After just a minute, Louise was stood back outside, along the remainder of the gang, who had never entered the house, and a couple of whom who were still looking dazed from the conversation they had all shared earlier.

"Doctor!" she exclaimed, as soon as he came into her eye line. "Doctor, you have the TARDIS with you, don't you? I heard it earlier."

"Yes, I do." he answered, a little unsure of why that question was appropriate.

"Then I'd like you to do something for me, just one thing. Please." she begged, her face pleading with the Time Lord.

"Alright." he agreed.

"I want you to take me to my parents."

A/N: Please review, then I'll update again soon.


	9. Fear of the Line

Chapter Nine

A/N: Thanks for reviewing, lil Miss Mysterious and Shannon the chameleon.

For some reason or other, Louise had not been shocked at all by the appearance of the TARDIS. Although her mother had mentioned it a couple of times, she had never gone into detail about the machine, and so it was strange that it did not affect her.

"You're the child of the TARDIS." her father had once told her. That must have been why.

Yet still, even though they had seen it before, Clyde, Rani and Luke spent at least half an hour touching buttons and seeing what would happen, while the Doctor was too preoccupied with trying to break through the space-time continuum to stop them.

He seemed to succeed, as half a minute later, the machine started to tremble violently, before rocking perilously from side to side, bringing the occupants falling along with it, bar the Doctor, who had somehow managed to cling to the edge of the console by his fingertips.

By the time the machine drew to a stop, the other five occupants of the TARDIS were lying in various places dotted around the floor of the floor, most notably of which Clyde, who had one leg hanging onto the safety railing, and the rest of his body hanging down in the direction of the lower floor.

"Are you alright, Clyde?" Louise called, after about ten seconds of silence from the boy. After all, if the subject was Clyde Langer, ten seconds of silence was far too long.

"Yeah. Thanks, Sparky." came the response, though it still took a while to escape the young man's mouth, a worrying fact.

Once they had all got their bearings, the group turned to face the Doctor, who seemed, amazingly, to be completely balanced and raring to leave, unlike the dizzied quintet stood before him.

"Right, now, first point to note." the Doctor told the group, prompting Sarah Jane to let out a huge sigh. It was obvious that she had received this talk quite a few times before. "It's dangerous out there. We don't know how far the Cybermen have spread, they could be everywhere. Don't split up, under any circumstances. Is that understood?"

No one nodded, or answered him at all. All each of them did was raise an eyebrow, and cross their arms, as if to say that he was treating them like children, despite the fact that, legally, four of them would qualify as such.

"Alright, then. Off we go." the Time Lord instructed, running past the group to throw open the doors and sprint through them, without even stopping to glance outside first. After all the talk of caution, Louise was a little annoyed at the man's actions.

At Sarah Jane's behest, the group had remained inside the TARDIS for a few moments after the man had exited the machine, just to ensure that it was safe to go out. After about a minute of standing in absolute silence, each of the four becoming more and more agitated by the second, the woman finally stepped aside from the door, allowing the group to go sprinting out of it.

To their little surprise, the streets were utterly empty, not a single Cyberman in sight. '_Sarah Jane must have just been overreacting, as usual.'_ Louise thought, a smile surfacing on her face as she did so. '_Still, I suppose she has a right to be a little nervous. She has faced the Cybermen before, after all, and they aren't anything to be joked about, or so she said__.__'_

It took a couple of minutes for the group to locate the Doctor, who had disappeared soon after he had exited the TARDIS, but they eventually found him, stood in stillness by the edge of the city line.

"Beyond this line, London begins." the man informed the group, though he had not even glanced around to see whether they were behind him, and so could very easily have been talking to thin air. For some reason, Louise had an inkling that the man would not have been bothered by this at all. "Beyond this line, the Cybermen are in charge."

"I'm not scared of them." Louise pointed out, her voice shaking a little as she said it. After all, the words were not strictly truthful, but she wanted to be brave, like her mother surely would have been. Unfortunately, the Doctor was far more observant than she had given him credit for.

"I think you are." the man claimed, turning to face the girl and bending down to his knees in front of her, so that he was just below her eye level. At any other time, Louise would have been annoyed that he was treating her like a tiny child, but she currently did not care. That was what she felt like. "Don't worry. So am I, a bit. The Cybermen are really scary. But we'll get through it, won't we? All of us. And so will your parents."

The only response that the young blonde gave was the slight nod of her head, but that was all that was required. As the remainder of the group caught up to them, Louise's right hand closed around the Doctor's left. Together, as a six, they took a collective step. Right over the line.

The moment they crossed it, Louise felt a familiar sensation flood through her veins. Fear.

It was only know that she realised the extent of the terror the Cybermen caused her. After what she had witnessed on the screen back in the attic of 13 Bannerman, when her mother had disappeared from view after the attack of a Cyberman. Ever since that fateful day, the metallic creatures had been the object of every fear, whether waking or sleeping. If she came face to face with one, she had no idea what she would do.

'_I'll find my parents, that is what I'll do.'_ Louise told herself, leaving no room for questioning. '_And I will make them proud of me.'_

A/N: Aw! Please review, to get the next one quicker.


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